Fitting Out (Year 15):
| Date | Discussion |
|---|---|
| 1st April 2024 | Here beginneth the next lesson! This is the fifteenth epistle
of the Building of the Ark - well, not the Ark maybe, but Rhapsody
in Glue anyway. The Old Testament says that the keel was laid in July of 2008 and the hull completed in March of 2010, when it was turned over and the boatbuilders saw that it was good. Well, OK anyway! This is the fifteenth chapter of the New Testament of "Just Fitting Out!" |
| 4th May 2024 | "May the farce be with you." I was claiming a major distraction at the end of the last enthralling episode of this tome due to the "bargain" acquisition of an induction cook top. Something that I have always wanted. Naturally, it had to have its own, new, dedicated 32amp circuit added to my original power board that was too old to be legally updated. Several thousands of dollars later - no problem! I decided that it was also a good opportunity to upgrade some of the kitchen cupboards. I found a DIY company that makes the cupboards for you so that you can then install them yourself. How hard can it be? Actually, it was pretty straight forward. All the cupboards fitted properly, and it only took a couple of days to complete. There were another several thousands of dollars involved, of course. Having disposed of the old electric stove, (happily), there remained the problem of finding a new oven to complement the induction cooktop. Facebook Marketplace to the rescue and rather less than a thousand dollars this time - phew! When collecting the new oven and moving it into the house, some other, small, issues arose, as they always do. One such thing was having to replace the ancient, and now defunct, wheels on my sack truck - I'd been meaning to do that for at least five years - but you know how it is! After all that, you'll be delighted to know that the kitchen is now finished and fully functional, although it hasn't noticeably improved my cooking. Still, it's a relief, except that I am now running low on excuses for getting so far behind with my boat building. A major issue, recently, has been the death of my partner's brother, my friend and sometimes helper, Jim. He was almost exactly my age and apparently in good health, which is very scary. He just collapsed and died - we don't know why. RIP Jim - "Fair Winds and a Safe Harbour." O.K. - back to boat building. The main focus recently has been in the aft cabin. It is mostly complete, but, as always, a few things remain. The aft ballast tank, which sits under the bed, has had its access plates installed, both the level sensing switches and the internal pump, so that it can be emptied. All the fittings are sealed into place with silicone. Some wiring for all the bits and pieces will be installed shortly. The circuit for controlling the ballast tank is shown in the "Pipes and Wires" section of the Web site. Having removed, and in some cases re-made, the floor panels to allow access for painting in all the places no one will ever see, it was time to install the exhaust pipe. The pipe is 50mm spiral reinforced nitrile hose. It is very stiff, reluctant to bend, awkward to use, very expensive and, generally, a pain in the backside. I had left suitable holes in the underfloor framing, of course, but some had to be enlarged slightly, or at least, have the excess paint removed to allow the hose to pass through. Eventually, victory was mine, but not without significant time, effort and bad language. The transom outlet for the exhaust pipe is a fancy turned and polished aluminium casting, one of a pair, that I bought from a second hand market. I have since discovered that they are available from Glen L marine, in the US, at an exorbitant price and, so, were a real bargain. Good - it doesn't happen that often! The inside of the casting was turned out to suit a length of 50mm copper pipe, which was then epoxied and screwed into place. The inside diameter of the exhaust hose is 50mm, so it all works quite well - not by accident, of course. Given that the exhaust hose carries not only the hot exhaust, but the cooling water as well, and is nearly six metres from the engine, I don't think that the hose, fitting, or more importantly its epoxy fixings, will get hot enough to become a problem. The polished aluminium exhaust fitting is on the Starboard side of the transom, but the other one of the pair has now been fitted on the Port side to match. It may give the impression that the boat's engine might be a V8 - who would do such a thing? But, naturally, it's a fake. At least, whilst it may not be an engine exhaust, it is the grey water outlet from the shower and handbasin in the bathroom, so just a different type of exhaust! Despite the current legislation, Rhapsody is able to vent filtered grey water back into the river. This is because the new rules came into force in January of 2009 and Rhapsody's keel was laid in July of the preceding year. So, my formal "Build Date" for the purposes of the legislation is 2008 and the new rules do not apply. I have a document from the EPA to confirm this situation and have had an interim EPS Survey completed, and signed off, by Mike Tweedy which further supports the grey water plan for the boat. The Port side exhaust fitting has been modified to include a 19mm hose tail and has been mounted in the transom. A "Lilac" sullage hose will be installed under the floor and connected to the shower and handbasin sump pump, which is under the bathroom floor. Alongside the grey water hose under the Portside floor, is the fuel pipe that connects the two removable 25l litre petrol tanks in the lazarette to the engine. The hose is an 8mm nitrile armoured high pressure pipe, that is wrapped in a stainless steel mesh, that will pass under the bathroom floor, to reach the main petrol tank locker. More on that later. The main batteries are split into two banks of three each, and are located under the bed, at the very aft of the boat. This was not the original position intended for the batteries, but it was changed later in order to better balance the weight distribution, and, therefore, the trim of the boat. There are six 120A/hr batteries that should weigh about 35Kg each, which is, umm, 200 odd kilos. The battery boxes are sealed and separately vented to the outside air in case the "sealed" batteries aren't actually sealed. Batteries can give off hydrogen, which is not nice stuff to have in a confined space. Wiring for the batteries is installed using 6.5mm diameter (2AWG) wire rated at a continuous 188amps, allowing for a peak of considerably more than that. The cables are placed under the Starboard bedroom floor and terminate in the engine bay on two large terminal blocks. The negative block is the main zero ground connection for the entire boat. The positive block will connect to the solar panel input, and engine charging circuits, and a myriad of other things, in due course. The engine has its own, separate, battery system, but a switch has been installed in the engine bay that, in an emergency, will allow the engine to be started using the House batteries. An isolating switch, for the House battery system, has been installed in a separate subsystem in the base of the Starboard bedside cabinet. It can disconnect and isolate the house batteries completely or select either one or, for normal operation, both banks together. The same subsystem has a 300amp circuit breaker, to protect the batteries and wiring, and a bi-directional current sensing unit which detects current going both into, and out of, the house batteries. It then connects automatically, via Wi-Fi, to a display in the saloon for monitoring. A 50amp Anderson plug has been installed in the transom to allow for an external connection to be made to the House batteries. It may be used to charge the battery in a tender boat, or even an electric tender boat, in due course, for that matter. It would also allow the House battery to be charged from an external source, should that ever become necessary. A 70amp circuit breaker is provided. In other news: the repurposed Ford Throttle Body Injector (TBI) has been dismantled, cleaned and reassembled with new gaskets and seals. It was decided to pressure test it to check for any leaks, which was just as well, as it turned out. Petrol spraying around at nearly 50psi is a bit of a nuisance, but better to find that out on the bench than in the boat! The gasket around the new pressure regulator diaphragm hadn't seated properly, but that was easily resolved. Since the remainder of the fuel injection computer and test system was still sitting on the bench, it seemed like a good opportunity to connect up the whole thing and see what happened. Joy of joys, both injectors were working perfectly and squirting their little hearts out. I have no idea whether the fuel volumes are even close to the correct values, but it should be enough to start the engine, at least, so that the fine tuning process can start! A 1965 Holden Red motor with fuel injection - who'd a thought... |
| 31st May 2024 | Following on from the comments above, I did take the opportunity
to perform some fuel volume tests by running the injectors,
for a fixed time period, squirting fuel into a stainless steel
bowl. (The dog donated the bowl - "good boy"!) All this time, the bench is littered with live electrical equipment and power supplies and the injectors are spraying vaporised petrol all over the place. I'm glad that I didn't have to explain that scenario to an insurance company... Still, the results showed that at 3000rpm and full power, (i.e. zero manifold vacuum), the injectors passed the equivalent of 4l/hr. Whilst trying to simulate the engine at idle, without a vacuum source, turned out to be a bit tricky, the flow reduced to about 1.1l/hr. These figures are probably not accurate, but are, at least, in the range of what might be expected. Given that testing is now complete, the fuel injector body could be installed in the boat, and it is. The air for the engine enters the hull via a 100mm vent. It is then trunked down to the engine space to an air filter box. This was taken from a 1996 Holden Barina SB. The outlet has been enlarged to 75mm and then a hose takes the air to a specially constructed adaptor on the top of the injector body. Many boats' engines draw their air from their immediate surroundings, within the engine space. This is often done in the hope that any lingering petrol fumes would be inducted and burned. This is fine in theory until a backfire occurs, and that's how fires start. Rhapsody's engine is only connected to the air outside the hull, not inside, in the hope of avoiding any such issues. A custom adaptor had to be made for the injector body to allow a connection to the air filter box. A length of square PVC gutter downpipe was used, with a 75mm round adaptor at one end, and a simple plug at the other. A spacer was required to lift the adaptor above the irregular contours of the injector body and my son's 3D printer came to the rescue for that - thanks James! A suitable oval hole was cut to fit the inlet throat and a separate aluminium support plate was also made to firmly mount the new adaptor. To make the new air box look fabulous, a blue plastic panel was engraved with the boat's logo and fitted to the top of the box. It does have a practical role, as well, in that it provides some extra stiffness on the top of the unit. A length of flexible 75mm hose completes the connection. The Bosch 044 fuel pump draws about 7amps whilst running, and more during startup. The Speeduino unit is not able to switch that much current, so its output signal has to be directed to a 12v relay instead. The relay is rated at 40amps which can quite easily drive the fuel pump, but because of its size, has had to be accommodated outside the Speeduino box. Similarly, the Speeduino's output signal, used to drive a tachometer, has to be processed because its amplitude is only 5volts and most rev. counters need a 12volt signal. This requires the use of a simple opto-coupler unit which is readily (and very cheaply) available via eBay. However, it also has to be accommodated outside the Speeduino box. These two units can, in fact, be built together, in the same small box, to be located adjacent to the Speeduino unit. This has now been finished. It is possible to drive the rev. counter directly from the distributor, in the original manner, but many modern units have some difficulties with this aging approach. Using the output of the Speeduino system instead, has a couple of benefits. The first is that it produces a very stable and, hopefully, accurate read-out. The second is that it provides confirmation, on the dashboard, that the Speeduino computer is actually operating, which in turn, confirms that the Top Dead Centre magnetic sensor is working along with all the cabling in between. In the case of an engine that won't start, it provides some basic fault finding information, which may save some time one day. The major power cables have been installed from the "house battery" boxes in the aft of the boat and also from the "engine battery" box in the engine space. A switch has been provided to allow the engine to be run from either battery system, in an emergency. The switch should not be moved once the engine is running, however. The charging system is independent of the position of the switch and will always attempt to charge both sets of batteries in the normal way. A positive power cable has been run from the emergency battery bank selector switch to the starter motor and the engine block has been connected to the master earth negative. Some touching up of the paintwork inside the engine space was necessary, too, after so much activity. The length of travel for the injector body throttle cable to go from idle to full throttle is much less than the 75mm standard length of travel provided by the engine controls on the dashboard. The translation from one range of movement to the other is achieved by a pendulum style lever arrangement. I have described its operation in detail elsewhere. However, it was originally designed for an earlier model of injector body, which had a similar issue, except that it operated left to right and the new injector operates right to left. It was simple enough to change the unit around, but it was just another one of the myriads of jobs that take several hours to complete with little, apparently, to show for it. Having recently fitted the grey water outlet pipe through to the transom fitting, it was time to connect its other end to the washbasin and shower drains. These drains pass through a filter, in the first instance, which is in a box under the corridor floor. The hand basin has a standard "U" trap which leads to a 40mm PVC pipe under the floor. The pipe has a "T" fitting that connects with the shower gutter drain using 32mm plastic hose. Since these drains are below the water line, there is also a pump to lift the grey water up ready for its journey back into the river. Rhapsody is permitted by the EPA to return filtered grey water back to the river because its formal build date, of July 2008, is before January 2009, when the new rules came into force, which is convenient. Running the grey water sullage pipe required the lifting of the temporary chipboard bathroom floor. There are a number of other plumbing connections and an air ventilation system that will reside under that floor, so it was a good time to start addressing them all. Raw water, from the river, enters the hull via a stop cock and is fed to the bottom of a plastic reservoir. The reservoir consists of a vertically mounted length of 150mm PVC pipe with a variety of take-off points, like a manifold, for the various systems such as the engine, domestic supply and the air conditioning system. The reservoir has a float switch which will sound an alarm if the level of water is too low, which might indicate a blocked filter. The unit had been dry-fitted a long time back, but now the first job was to paint out the area and then make it a permanent fixture so that its various connections could be finalised. There is a shower, or washdown station, on the outside of the transom. It has hot and cold water and a shower head on a hose that can be pulled out for ease of use. Standing on the swim deck, it is possible to wash off sand or anything else before coming aboard the boat. The washdown fitting is simply a white plastic box with two taps and a pull out shower head. Whilst completing its final installation, I came cross the original receipt for the unit, which, I had purchased, in 2004, for $189 from a very well know marine chandlery. I casually wondered if the same unit was still available and, if so, what its current price might be. The identical unit is still available - and today's price - $495! If you think that our CPI is really only about 5% - "Tell 'em they're dreaming..." |
| 31st May 2024 | Still working under the bathroom floor, the ventilation
system could finally be installed. It consists of a complex
mating of a number of 75mm PVC pipe fittings and lengths of
straight pipe. It actually ventilates the back of the gearbox
area too – because I had been determined that no explosive petrol
vapour should linger there and ruin the day! I made the whole
structure many moons ago and had left it under the boat, safely
stored, I thought, awaiting a suitable time for it to be installed.
However, at some point in the intervening period I must have
been looking for a length of 75mm pipe for something else, and
a major part of the assembly had been pinched. Grrr! Can't trust
anyone around a boat shed! Ah well - back to the big green hardware
store for more pipe to replace the missing piece. The ventilation pipe passes through the bulkhead at the bottom of the wardrobe. It is not glued in place, to facilitate easy removal, should that ever be necessary. It then passes up the inside wall of the hull to a bilge blower, (which is sucking, in this instance, of course), and so to the outside air. In the same corner of the wardrobe, are the hoses that allow the filling of the freshwater tank. (There is a matching set on the Starboard side, of course.) One hose is the actual filler pipe which is connected to a suitable fitting on the side deck, and the other is simply a breather, which is vented to the outside of the hull. The breather will be useful in that when the tank is being filled, since it is otherwise sealed, the overflow will be visible via the breather. The aftmost part of the galley floor is made up of a timber grating. Underneath the grating is a sump to the bottom of the boat, which, being the lowest point, will collect any LPG that may escape from the gas stove and any other nasty, heavier-than-air, vapours that might be lurking. A bilge blower, which is in "suck" mode, of course, (makes you wonder why we call them "blowers" at all, really), has been installed in the wall of the hull, above the stove, and has now been connected via a flexible 75mm hose, through the galley floor, to the sump area. That same area of floor also needed some additional holes to accommodate the connections to the forward ballast tank. Let's see, we need water in, water out and vent air out. Oh, and we'd better have another one for the cabling. Wait a minute – isn’t there a bilge pump to go in there, too? Yep, another hole! The bilge pump not only drains any water spillage, or condensation, from the galley area, but also any rainwater that may get into the boat via the anchor locker. There is a pipe, that passes right through the ballast tank, to connect the two compartments for that purpose. The LPG sniffer also has to be installed in the galley sump, in due course - more cables! The main house battery cables, that were installed recently, now terminate on the Starboard side wall of the engine compartment, where two large brass busbars have been mounted. One becomes "House Positive", and the other forms the "Global Ground" connection for the whole boat. A cable connects the negative side directly to the engine block. A second, smaller, busbar has been fitted close by, to form the positive termination for a cable from the "engine battery". The negative side of the engine battery is connected to the "Global Ground", of course. The engine battery busbar also receives the output connection, (and the field wire), from the alternator. This approach ignores the position of the "emergency start" switch, so that regardless of which battery is used to start the engine, it will always try to charge the engine battery first. The solar panel controller is also connected into the system via this busbar, so that it, too, can charge the batteries in the same way as the alternator. There is a relay that disconnects the solar panels, when the engine is running, to avoid any conflict between the alternator and the solar controller electronics. A dual sense battery connection relay is installed between the house and engine positive busbars, as well, so that once the engine battery is fully charged, and reaches 13.2v, the system will start to charge the house battery. This is regardless of the source of the charging current, be it alternator, solar panels or even a wind generator, should one ever be fitted. The dual sense charge controller constantly monitors the voltage of the house battery. If, during normal use overnight perhaps, its voltage should fall below 12.8v, then the two batteries are immediately disconnected, preserving the engine battery in a fully charged state, ready to start the engine as required. Last month, the fuel injection system testing was finished, so the injector body could be installed on the engine, together with its air intake plumbing. The second essential component of the fuel injection system, that also has to be added to the engine, is a crankshaft position sensor. The computer needs to know when piston number one is at Top-Dead-Centre (TDC), so that it can correctly time the pulses to the fuel injectors. The sensor system consists of a toothed steel wheel, which is attached to the bottom fan pulley, and a magnetic sensor that counts the teeth as they go past a fixed point. The wheel has a tooth every ten degrees, which would mean 36 teeth, except that one is deliberately missing and when the "gap" goes past the sensor, the computer knows to start counting a specific number of degrees of rotation, (twenty in this case), that will identify the TDC position. The toothed wheel was bought as a kit, containing not only the wheel itself and the magnetic sensor, but a very clever mounting bracket specifically designed for the Holden "Red" motor. Unfortunately, this engine has been marinised, obviously, which involves adding a separate cooling water pump, driven by a non-standard fan belt arrangement – you guessed it - it fouls the "very clever", (and expensive), sensor mounting bracket. Humph! Making a new sensor mounting bracket would be a challenge in any circumstances because tolerances are tight, mounting angles are awkward and it has to be very accurate. The situation, in this case, is doubly difficult because the engine is already installed in the boat and not only is the working space minimal, it’s also a very awkward area to access, requiring the use of mirrors and torches etc. However, a new aluminium backet has been made, finally, and the sensor is fitted in its new position, its clearance from the teeth on the wheel is set to 2mm, and it completely misses the fan belt, which is nice. During this final fit-out stage, there is not much timber construction remaining. However, one essential item that has yet to be addressed, is a door for the toilet. This was brought to mind at a Sunday morning market, recently, when I spotted a six inch round bronze butterfly ventilator. It was obviously from a boat and very old and although complete, was in fairly poor condition. It has now been repaired, polished and lacquered and looks terrific. All I need now is a toilet door to put it in… |
| 22 August 2024 | The "July Report" seems to be missing - Ah, well! A variety
of Winter ills seem to have claimed more than their share of
time, so boatbuilding progress has been minimal. Some parts
ordering and circuit design work has been completed, which is
useful. There are three main power circuits in the boat. The first is the essential survival system which powers such things as the bilge pumps, the gas sniffer and blowers and the remote computer monitoring system. The second system powers the engine and steering components and the third powers everything else. Each system is switched and fused separately. The "Survival Systems" fuse box is mounted behind a drop down panel inside the Starboard wall of the hull and is accessible from the saloon. It is "live" at all times unless the main battery isolator switch, in the bedroom, has been turned off. (There is a separate isolator for the engine battery.) It supplies the five bilge pumps, each of which are fused separately so that if one fails, and blows its fuse, it does not disable the remainder of the pumps. It also supplies the four bilge blowers, or extractors, which are also fused separately, for the same reason. The "Survival System" also provides fused power to the remote monitoring system, which includes the Internet connection and Wi-Fi router and a fused connection for the courtesy lights around the entry hatch. A separate fuse is provided to supply the fridge. The fridge is deemed to be part of the "Survival System" only so that it can be left on when the boat is otherwise unattended for extended periods, when the remainder of the power in the boat should be turned off. There is a separate, illuminated on/off switch on the forward wall of the galley so that the fridge can be turned off. A 240v red double power point, connected to the 2Kw 240v inverter, has been installed on the opposite front wall of the galley. This is to supply the microwave unit which will be sited on a shelf on top of the fridge, plus any other 240v appliance that may be needed. The "Engine System" fuse box is mounted on the aft wall of the engine bay, under the main engine floor panel. It has separate fuses for the fuel pumps, ignition, EFI computer and the steering system. When the engine is running, the solar panel array is disconnected, via a relay, to avoid a conflict between the engine alternator and the solar controller which, otherwise, could "fight" over control of the battery charging system. A fused circuit for the solar isolator relay is provided. The third system, the "Everything Else" system is activated by a 300amp switch just inside the main entry door. It should be operated when first boarding the boat, and then all other systems will become active. It will be switched off, of course, when the boat is being left unattended for more than a day or two, - hopefully! Working in the galley, the bilge pump has been installed under the removable grating in the floor and wired back to its individual fuse. There will be a bilge monitoring system installed adjacent to the fuse box, to activate an emergency system if any bilge pump runs whilst the boat is unattended. The emergency system will then activate a blue xenon strobe light above the anchor light, on the roof, and will also send a signal through the remote monitoring system to various mobile phones and an Internet website. The galley bilge pump outlet hose has been installed using pretty "lilac" recycled water irrigation hose. This product was specifically chosen for its one major benefit - it's cheap!! The hose is connected to a through hull fitting on the Starboard bow and that now qualifies it for a rather unique descriptor - "finished"! The area under the galley floor grating is particularly busy. Now the bilge pump is installed, the ballast tank can also be connected. Using a lot more "lilac" hose, the outlet of the tank's drain pump is now connected to its very own through hull fitting and a separate breather pipe is also installed. The breather consists of another length of pipe running straight up the inside wall of the hull, to a point well above the water line, where it is simply left open to the air. Finally, with yet more hose, the ballast tank filler pipe has been installed as well. The filler pipe is connected to a solenoid operated water valve that will be plumbed into the domestic pressure water system in due course. All the various tank components are now wired, via a six-way cable, to a control unit that will be placed somewhere, when I build it... |
| 13 October 2024 | Another mighty monthly missive missed! (Ah, the awesome
alliteration is altogether amazing...) Ah well, the Winter weather
is still taking its toll on health and enthusiasm, but some
progress has been made. Currently, the boat has a “forest” of wires hanging out of, and disappearing into, every possible orifice. And it seems that everywhere I decide I need to run a cable inside the boat, is the very place where I have omitted to provide access. So, I have now drilled new holes in bulkheads and under floors – some in really inconvenient spots. The downside is, of course, that each new cut in the hull has to be treated with preservative and then painted before the cable, that needed to be accommodated, can be finally installed. All very tedious! The really frustrating thing is that the boat looks no different, at first glance, than it did a couple of months back. No stunning new photo opportunities. However, if you look a little closer, you will spot microcosms of progress. The wiring in and around the galley is finished. (There’s that word again!) At least it was, until I discovered that the fridge didn’t work. You have to remember that the fridge is new, in so far as it has hardly ever been switched on, but it is also twelve years old. I bought it many years ago, during the planning stages, so that, once I knew its dimensions, I could design the galley around it. To discover, at this late stage, that it didn’t work was somewhat dispiriting, to say the least. The fridge has no apparent brand name, so finding any information about the machinery was problematic. However, after removing the back of the cabinet, I found a part number on the compressor which, with my Sherlock Holmes hat on, led me, via the trusty Internet, to the Zhe Jiang Boyang Compressor Co., Ltd! (That’s upset the spellchecker!) I don’t know how good their compressors are, but they did have a detailed manual available, in English, surprise, surprise, which was very helpful. (Not that I would normally admit to reading the instructions, of course.) The compressor is described as a 12 volt “Soft Start” unit, which is great. The cable run to the main 12volt busbar is 6 metres, or so, and I had used 16 amp cable, which, given that the maximum current draw is listed as seven amps, should have been fine. However, a recommendation, in the manual’s fine print, suggested that over such a long run, a much heavier, 6mm, wire should be used. This puzzled me somewhat, until I realised that, whilst it may claim to be a “Soft Start” machine, that didn’t mean it wasn’t like almost every other electric motor in the world and required a significant initial surge of current to get things started. So, I rewired the fridge with 6mm cable, rated at 40 amps, whilst feeling faintly ridiculous, but sure enough, it fixed the problem. Now the fridge has been running every day for a week, it works reliably and maintains the correct temperature. That’s a relief! Now to pull the “finished” wiring harness out and re-make it with heavier wire. Grrr... Pretty “lilac” hoses for the forward bilge pump, and also for the underfloor ballast tank, are now installed under a removable grating in the galley floor. The ballast tank can now be both filled and emptied and has an air breather as well. Terminal blocks to facilitate the electrical connection of the float switches, to check water levels and to connect the drain pump, are also installed. The wiring is under the starboard-side galley benchtop and out of sight. Connections include the fridge, the two bow mounted spotlights, the connection to the automatic ignition system in the gas stove, which is combined with the line to the solenoid tap on the gas bottles since they will always need to operate together, of course. The wiring for the automatic gas bottle changeover detector is routed under the Port-side benchtop, directly to the computer locker. The unit contains a light, operated by a mercury switch, such that if the gas locker hatch is opened at night, the light comes on automatically. Outside the boat, the middle window, on the Starboard side, is a fake. In fact, it is a simple metal grill that hides the hot water service and two other items, namely, the solar controller and the 240v inverter. Mounting behind a grill provides for natural air cooling and easy access. The inverter is a pure sine wave unit rated at 2Kw continuously or 4Kw for short periods. This means that its 12 DC supply cables have to be rated at 300A. A new 40mm conduit has been installed to route these B&S 2, heavy gauge, cables through to the main distribution busbars. An isolating relay (similarly rated) is installed on the engine bulkhead. Moving to the back of the boat, all the “lilac” hose connections, for the aft ballast tank and the stuffing box bilge pump, are now installed. A number of new holes in frames and bulkheads were required to accommodate the various connections. Both the freshwater tank breather pipes are also installed. Terminal blocks have been provided for the stuffing box bilge pump and for the aft ballast tank drain pump and the two level detector float switches. The sender unit for the rudder position indicator system has been installed on a removable timber piece over the rudder quadrant. A new hole has been drilled in the aluminium quadrant and tapped to suit an 8mm bolt, with a magnet mounted on top, to activate the Hall Effect sensors in the sender unit. The clearance between the sensors and the magnet should be no more than 2mm. A ten-way cable connects the sender unit to a display unit next to the helm position which is equipped with four red and four green LEDs. A white LED indicates that the rudder is “amid-ships”. There are two helm positions, of course, so two separate ten-way cables are required. I had purchased, what I thought was, enough of the necessary ten-way cable from the local hardware shop, quite some years ago simply because the opportunity presented itself, so I was dismayed to discover, this week, that I didn’t have enough to connect both helm positions. Surely, the shop wouldn’t still have the same product in-stock, after all these years and indeed, a quick visit confirmed that I was right – they didn’t. I was discussing my dilemma with the very sympathetic staff when “the boss” came along. He asked about the cable I had been looking for and when I explained, he started to chuckle. He said, “I know the cable you mean, it hasn’t sold well for years, so we threw it out – yesterday.” I couldn’t believe that I had missed being able to buy more cable by a day! Then, he said, “Don’t worry, I know where it is. It’s in the recycling bin at the depot. I’ll pull it out again and bring it in tomorrow, for you.” And that’s what he did! It restores your faith in the kindness of ordinary people. And the tag to the story is that, since it had already been written-off, he said, “just take it – no charge - it’s yours!” |
| 3 November 2024 | Bilge pumps are, necessarily, in the very bottom of the
boat and there are five of them. Their outlets, however, pass
through permanently mounted hull fittings that are very much
higher up, well away from the waterline and this creates a problem.
Imagine the situation - the automatic level switch in the bilge pump detects the presence of water and, so, switches on the pump, as it should. When the water level in the bilge drops to a satisfactory level, the pump then switches off - fine. However, the pipe that connects the pump to its outside fitting is still full of water and once the pump stops, the water remaining in the pipe then drains back into the bilge. A very long run of hose can contain a significant volume of water. In fact, it can be enough to raise the water level sufficiently to re-start the pump, and so the cycle continues. To stop this situation, or at least to reduce the problem, non-return valves have been fitted into all the bilge pump outlet hoses. So that when the bilge pumps switch off, the water in the pipe does not drain back into the boat. The pumps that empty the two ballast tanks can, of course, suffer the same problem, so they, too, have been fitted with non-return valves. The power from the main House battery had been routed via an isolating switch, and a 300A breaker, to a large busbar in the engine bay. There are some circuits that need to be powered all the time, whether the boat is occupied or not. The idea was to have another isolating switch, near the entry door, to activate the remainder of the electrical system only when the boat is to be used. Whilst pondering the practicality of this plan, it became clear that there was a simpler approach. (Is this learning on the job?) The number of circuits that need to be permanently powered is really quite small. A single twelve-way fuse panel serves as a distribution point for power to the bilge pumps, blowers, gas sniffer, computer monitoring system and the fridge, and the only other connection required directly to the House battery is for the solar charging system. Ripping out and re-doing work that has already been completed is dispiriting. However, to improve the final result, sometimes, it is necessary. Now, the major busbar labelled “House Battery” will only be “live” whilst the boat is occupied. Also, the idea of having a 300A power switch near the entrance involved a significant amount of expensive cabling and could be better achieved using a relay mounted near the busbar. That relay could then be operated from somewhere near the entrance, or even via a switch on the dashboard, that requires a key! Not a system that would stop a determined thief, but something, anyway. To implement this new system, a 300A relay was required and, as it happens, I had a spare one. Many moons ago, I had ordered a relay to provide an isolating point for the 240v inverter from a Chinese supplier. It was not a cheap item and, when it arrived, I noted that the packaging was damaged. Whilst the relay was still perfectly serviceable, one of its mounting legs was very slightly damaged. I mentioned this to the supplier simply by way of feedback and, to my astonishment, he sent me another one. So, the new power distribution plan could make use of the spare relay, which is a 300A unit and perfect for the job. The new plan has been installed and is a much better, and simpler, arrangement. Now, you need a key to activate the electrical systems, including the engine, when the boat is to be used. |
| 1 December 2024 | Welcome to yet another Summer. Hot weather in the shed is
a hassle. Still, drinking plenty of water and not working through
the middle of the afternoon helps to some degree. Having just
had my 77th birthday, “not working through the middle of the
afternoon” has even more attractions. There are a number of things, still, under the bed that have been receiving some attention this month. The plumbing for the ballast tank has been installed and so has the drain hose for the bilge pump in the stuffing box area. Wires have been run for the various connections to the ballast tank system, such as the empty and full detector switches. The big ticket item still awaiting attention under the bed was the electric steering system. You will recall, perhaps, that the rudder is driven, through a series of chains and cables, by an electric motor. The motor is a permanent magnet pancake unit that includes an integral 25:1 reduction gearbox that I originally bought at a market, for $5, with the intention of using it to power a rotisserie on my BBQ. I have had a new chain wheel made to suit standard half inch chain, have fitted new brushes, of course, and painted it a pretty hammer tone blue, but, otherwise, it is “as found”. The plan is to control the steering motor with a small joystick instead of a traditional Ship’s Wheel and, of course, since there are two helm positions, there needs to be some electronics to control who is actually steering at any given time. When the rudder reaches full lock, in either direction, the power has to be automatically switched off, to avoid overheating a stalled motor. This has involved installing limit switches, (also opportunistically purchased from a roadside market, in Victoria this time), and creating an electronic “box of tricks” to control it all. From all this, you will begin to appreciate that the whole system is decidedly experimental. Will the motor be strong enough to power the rudder and will it move the rudder quickly enough from lock to lock etc. etc? So, with such a lot of effort (and ego?) invested, if not a lot of money, perhaps), in such an unusual system, there was a certain tension in the air when I applied power to it for the first time. I needn’t have been concerned – it worked perfectly. At least, as far as one can tell before the boat is actually in the water. The proportional control system is very sensitive - you can power the rudder from lock to lock in around one second, or you can nudge it just a “micro smidge” for a minor course correction. Terrific, and what a relief!!! Having learnt my lesson with the fridge wiring, I decided to connect the steering system using 6mm cable, which is rated at a continuous 47amps. It seems something of an overkill for a motor that claims to consume only 6amps, however, most electric motors require a significant “startup surge” to get going, and that turned out to be the problem that stopped the fridge working properly. The proportional, bi-directional, motor control drive is provided by a commercial unit from Motion Dynamics Australia, in Sydney. It is rated up to 36volts at 25amps and connects directly to the steering joystick controls. Its output goes to the custom designed “Stall Control Unit” to prevent overheating if the rudder is held hard over for any length of time, which is co-located with the “Rudder Brake Controller”, which is also custom designed. When the rudder is not actually in the process of being moved by the steering motor, a brake is applied to stop the rudder immediately self-centring, due to the pressure of water over the rudder. The rudder brake can draw up to 6amps, but is voltage limited, by its controller, to avoid any overheating. The actual circuits for these two units are available on the boat’s website, www.rhapsodyinglue.com, under “Pipes and Wires”. Whilst pondering the necessity of using the 6mm cable to ensure voltage loss in the system is kept to a minimum with the steering and fridge systems, two other areas that might be affected, came to mind. The first was the toilet and the second was the air conditioning system. The toilet has a combined flush pump and macerator unit which TMC rates at 18amps. So, yes, another candidate for 6mm, 47amp wiring. The evaporative A/C unit uses up to five automotive style radiator fans, each rated at 6.25amps. Thus, with all the fans running at maximum, they can, theoretically, draw up to 31.25amps. Yes, more 6mm wire! There was a small hiatus, at this point, whilst another 30 metres of 6mm cable was purchased. A simple task, of course, but made somewhat more time consuming because my regular supplier has closed down and another had to be found. The cable is marine grade, tinned copper, now being sourced from Tycab Australia P/L. These two cables have now been installed and the toilet is connected directly to the House Battery busbar and the steering system, via the engine fuse panel, to the engine supply. The engine supply is the final candidate for 6mm cabling, (I hope). Its high current devices are the fuel injectors at 12amps, the fuel pump at 14amps and, of course, the steering control system described above. These are all fused separately. Fortunately, the cable run to this fuse block is very short, given that it is located on the bulkhead at the back of the engine. However, that connection is via a 70amp relay which is operated from the dashboard. This allows almost all the boat’s power systems to be controlled with an “ignition key” much like a car. Without the key to activate power in the boat, you can’t start the engine or steer the boat, or even turn the lights on. It wouldn’t stop a determined thief but might make them scratch their heads for a moment. In any event, it’s not the only security system on board, so smile for the cameras while the GPS system continuously transmits the boat’s current position... The starter motor is connected directly to the Engine Battery busbar, of course, although there is a 300A change over switch that will allow the whole engine system to be connected to the House Battery in an emergency. This will have the effect of activating the steering system as well. The main House Battery packs are under the bed in two sealed and separately vented enclosures. There is a small space under each battery baseboard that turns out to be just big enough to mount a 150watt inverter in order to supply 240v for power points mounted on the sides of the bed frame. Well, you have to be able to plug your electric blanket in somewhere on a cold river evening... |
| 26 January 2025 | Australia Day! Weather forecast is for 37 degrees, so, certainly
no boat building today! Christmas has come and gone, and whilst
for some people it’s a joyous time, for others it can be "the
season of unmet expectations". A number of "end of year" lunches,
and some ongoing health issues, have conspired to delay the
boat building process, but "I'm back". Some years ago, through the power of the Internet, I was able to contact a fellow Atkin's Tunnel Stern boat builder. He had chosen the "Little Water" version, which is a somewhat later design than Rhapsody, but otherwise extraordinarily similar. He planned to power the 24' boat electrically. We discussed the pros and cons in some detail, of course, since in the early days, Rhapsody was to be electrically powered as well. (See protracted discussions, elsewhere in this tome, for details and outcome of that plan!) I had not heard from him in some time and was saddened when his son contacted me recently to tell me that his father had been unwell and had died. However, he also sent me some video clips of his boat - finished and out cruising with the family! The boat was beautifully built and appeared to be performing perfectly – exactly as Atkin said it would! I'm glad my friend lived long enough to experience his boat in the water and enjoy the fruits of his labours. "Fair Winds", Doug... Since the electric steering system is now finished and installed, it has provided the opportunity for some more detailed testing. It is a somewhat experimental system, after all. The Rudder Brake is operated by a simple relay connected across the main steering motor. As soon as the motor tries to move the rudder, the relay should activate, and the brake is released. Simple! However, it turns out that the steering motor is much more sensitive than the brake release relay, which means that the brake doesn't "let go" quickly enough when the steering motor tries to turn the rudder. So, for some of the time, the motor is working hard against a still fully activated brake system, which is not so good. The solution is to increase the sensitivity of the rudder brake release system, and, whilst it's not such a problem really, it does need a small piece of additional electronics to achieve. If you’re not into electronics, skip the next paragraph! I had a small, commercial, opto-isolator relay driver module left over from another project and it turned out that it was almost perfect for the job. It operates an on-board relay with an input of about two volts so, as soon as minimal power is applied to the steering motor, the opto-isolator can operate the relay to release the rudder brake. The steering motor is bi-directional, so its supply can be either polarity, which involved adding a bridge rectifier to the input of the isolator, but, other than that, no changes were required. All this testing is being done on dry land, of course, so some fine tuning may yet be needed once the boat is in the water. However, for the moment, the system's operation seems to be quite promising. The electrical fit-out seems to consist of a myriad of small jobs, some of which take longer than you might anticipate. A good example was the fitting of the windscreen wiper. It's a simple job, yes, but it took several hours. I had drilled the mounting holes and dry fitted the wiper motor many moons ago, before the windscreen glass was fitted. Since then, the area around the windscreen, both inside and out, has been sanded and faired. That's fine except that it would have been useful to have marked where the pre-drilled mounting holes had been before I glassed the frame and painted over them. I found them eventually – but... The windscreen wiper is a "self-parking" model from TMC – usually a good brand, and I started to wonder which side, left or right, did the blade actually park and was it configurable? Easy - just whip the shiny cover off and have a look – it's only two screws, right? Yes, but one was cross threaded and apparently, it seriously hated the idea of being removed. An hour later, with the screw removed, (although destroyed in the process), I discovered that all had been OK, and I needn't have bothered. Grrr – and on a 100 degree day, too! Another job coming to the top of the "To Do" list was to research, buy and fit the solar panels, with the controller and their associated wiring. I had taken the opportunity during the "Black Friday" sales, to buy two solar panels. They are MOBI 400watt flexible panels, which are 1540 x 770mm. Their theoretical maximum power of 800w will almost certainly never be achieved, which is just as well, since my solar controller maximum power is 520w. The controller would protect itself against an overload, but some power may be wasted. This is just another thing to verify, and ponder, in practice once the boat is in the water. Methods of fixing flexible solar panels to the roof was then the subject of some more serious research on the trusty Internet. Various methods were being proposed from simply gluing them down, to making aluminium frames. Some even had them air-spaced away from the roof surface with water cooling for added efficiency! (Now, there's a thought!) I liked the idea of simply gluing them to the roof and was pleased to find the 3M company advertising a double sided adhesive tape specifically for the purpose. They suggest that their new "wonder" adhesive (from the planet Krypton, presumably) would hold panels in place up to 80mph! Yes, that should be enough! It was about this time that I realised that I could not actually install the panels whilst the boat is still in the shed because I only have about 40mm headroom under the roof. Ah, well. The wiring, however, could be installed in readiness. I had acquired a brand new commercial Solar Isolator Switch, all properly labelled, at a market, for five dollars and was keen to fit it. Small decisions about where to best site equipment, within the boat, seem to occupy hours. The old engineering term "analysis paralysis" comes to mind! I finally decided to fit the solar isolator high on the wall of the passage between the saloon and the bedroom. It's out of the way, but readily accessible, should it be needed in an emergency. It's physically close to where the cable from the solar panels will enter the boat as well, so that's convenient. (Once they can be installed!) Standard solar panel cabling is stiff and very unfriendly stuff to work with. It seems very tough, which is good, I suppose, but accommodating it neatly through bulkheads is a challenge. The cabling is now finished and the solar controller, itself, mounted behind a mesh grill for cooling, on the outside of the coach house. Mounted next to the solar controller is the mains inverter. It is a 240v, 2kw, pure sine wave unit, with a peak capacity of 4kw. It is located in the same location as the solar controller for the same reasons – principally to keep it cool. At full power, the inverter would draw about 150amps and at peak power, twice that. So, B&S2 cabling has been used to connect it to the House battery busbar. As a safety precaution, a cut-off relay has been installed as well. It can switch 300A, if necessary, and is connected to a timer in the saloon. If you want to turn the 240 power system on, activate the timer and if you forget to turn it off, it will turn itself off after 60 minutes. This is an almost identical system as has been used to control the LPG gas supply except that the timer can run for up to four hours. The timers are deliberately mechanical, so that in the event of a complete electrical failure, or fire, they have a better chance of operating safely to cut off the power and gas. The inverter is connected into the boat system via a 16A circuit breaker, which has a Residual Current Detector built in, for safety. There are various 240v wall sockets around the boat, all coloured red. The major 240v device is the new 700w microwave – also a Black Friday purchase! Originally, the inverter was expected to be powering a variety of the 240v devices on the boat. This thinking has evolved a little with the advent of the baby inverters on the market. They are not pure sine wave, but for many applications, it's not necessary and they are cheap. Appliances needing 240v at present are the exhaust fan in the galley, the heated towel rail in the bathroom, the illuminated mirror in the bedroom and two electric blankets for the bed. Five units, rated at 150w each, in all. The ceiling fan in the bedroom has been the subject of some recent consideration, too. The original 500mm 12v unit turned out to have a couple of issues. Firstly, as a stepper motor design, it was very noisy and, secondly, could not be easily speed controlled. A newer model, 750mm, unit was purchased, which was better, but still had the same problems. A better solution now appears to change to a 240v model, driven by yet another baby 240v inverter, combined with a commercial remote control unit. This approach allows for perfect speed control, almost no noise, and a unit that can be operated without leaving the bed!! Sounds good! Happily, I already have a suitable fan that can be used for testing. Once the blades have been cut down to a diameter of about one metre, to avoid fouling the essential mosquito net, testing can begin, and we'll see... |
| 7 March 2025 | Like any other task, the first step is often the most difficult.
I had been worrying about the best places to site the various
power distribution/fuse boxes to ensure accessibility for fuses,
convenience of cable routing around the hull and not using up
any more cable than was absolutely necessary. In the end, it became "bite the bullet" time. So, there is now a twelve slot unit under the main helm position, since this adjacent to the dash panel and convenient for items such as the two-way radio, stereo system, TV, galley lights, extractor fan and forward ballast tank. The major switches for items such as headlights, Nav. lights, and wipers are in the dashboard and have their own circuit breakers. Another twelve slot unit is on the Port wall of the bedroom to service items such as the towel rail, bathroom lights, night lights, saloon heater and whatever the Sun Deck may need. A six slot fuse/distributor panel is located on the starboard wall of the bedroom to service items such as the dressing table mirror, the electric blankets, bedside lights and the inverter for the ceiling fan. Another six slot unit is under the stairs to feed the various pumps, such as fresh water, domestic water and shower drain pump. The Hot Water Service igniter will be connected here too. The speed controllers for the A/C fans are bought in units. They are Pulse Width Modulated, and their frequency of operation has been adjusted to be well above the human hearing range. (Noting that the audible range for men and women are very different, especially as age advances!) Each controller has its own 30A blade fuse, built in, and the units are fed directly from the House Battery busbar to avoid voltage drop when operating at maximum load, where the total current draw will be well over 30 amps. The two A/C fan speed control units, one for the bedroom and one for the saloon, will each have its own control panel. A button will be provided on each to turn the cooling water off when a "fan only" mode is required. The toilet macerator is another high current device that has to be supplied directly from the House Battery busbar. It has its own 30A barrel fuse built into the half/full flush timer unit. Now that most of the high current cabling is installed, all that remains is the myriad of other accessories, each requiring its own wiring, of course, and each, of which, seems to take so long to complete. A complicating factor is that some of the electronics, such as the ballast tank controllers, the circuits for which were designed so long ago, have yet to be actually constructed! Ah, well! |